Deceit and Virtuous

I had another blog before this one called "Learning Life's Lessons." I now have it to where only I can see it, because of all the memories recorded in it. This morning I was going through some Bible studies I posted on that blog, and I thought ya'll might be interested in this one. There is also a continuation that I might post tomorrow. I did this study 2 years ago. 

Enjoy!

Pro 6:24To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Pro 6:25Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

Pro 31:10Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Pro 31:30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

I have been wondering about something lately. What exactly would a Christian young man look for in a wife? Would he look for beauty? Honesty? Wisdom? Flattery? If you look at the verses above, you’d probably think that’s a big jumble of verses. Yet, they all have one thing in common. They are all talking about women. But there is two different women described in the verses above.

The first one I call, Deceit. Deceit is always beautiful, on the outside. It’s tempting, at first. The first two verses describe her. Deceit is flattering, she knows how to flirt. She knows exactly what to say to get a man’s attention, and keep it. Then she injects her poison like a spider to its prey. Next it talks about the strange woman. Now when I think of a strange woman in the Scriptures, I think of a woman who is a foreigner. In our case of being Christians, a foreigner would be a lost person. “Gen 6:2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The daughters of men in this passage are the world. The Bible says to not be “unequally yoked with unbelievers.” 2 Corinthians 6:14. Something tells me that these sons of God did not see or really care about these daughters of men’s hearts, or if they believed in God. All they saw was their temporal outside beauty. I know that, though beauty may be a factor for a young man looking for a wife, it will not be the only or hopefully, not the most important thing a young man will be looking for. Because Proverbs chapter 6 verse 25 warns young men about lusting after deceit’s beauty. When I go in Walmart, I see many girls my age with a ton of makeup, tight clothes, fixed hair, and many have a body that is appealing to a man. But when I listen to them talk, they are rude, self-centered, and have a bunch of drama in their lives. It doesn’t matter that they’re wearing the coolest clothes or shoes. They are completely miserable. Always chasing after Satan’s newest wormy apple. Then, at the end of verse 25, it talks about flirting. It says, “neither let her take thee with her eyelids.” A girl who works to get a guy’s attention is desperate and will not make a faithful wife. She will constantly bring her husband grief and he cannot trust her.

That brings me to the second woman. This one is a lady. Pro 31:10“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.” This verse says nothing about her beauty, although I have to admit I’ve always imagined her being beautiful. I’m sure many others have also. The next verse is the complete opposite of our previous woman. Pro 31:11 “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.” A husband cannot trust Deceit, but he can trust Virtuous. So what would a Christian young man look for if he were following the Bible? Well, she would be trustworthy, have compassion, a hard worker, and honor and obey him. The last yet most important is told in my last verse. Pro 31:30 “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.” This verse is a great comfort to me, because I don’t consider myself beautiful. But now that I think about it, I’ve realized that’s just another one of Satan’s wormy apples. Outside beauty is temporal, but inside beauty is eternal. Satan leads so many girls, both saved and lost, to believe that beauty is everything, and has them constantly chasing after becoming more outwardly beautiful. When they are old and gray, they will wish they had spent more time with education, and getting closer to the Lord, then chasing after temporal beauty that later will mean nothing. So what have I learned? That outside beauty is temporal and vain. What really matters? How my walk with the Lord is, the way I treat others, and also, my work ethic. I believe this study has been a real help to me. It has shown me that outside beauty is not what makes you beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. It’s the inside beauty that the Lord cherishes, and spills out to make a person more beautiful to others.

I hope this was a help for some of you. I know that just reading it again helped me.